A Broken Promise

It was as if he hadn't left. That
was the first feeling to hit Bob as he strolled down the street, hardly anything
had changed and somehow he was finding it hard to believe that it had been more
than forty hours since he had last been in Mainframe. One of the more noticeable
changes he could see was the difference in the number of sprites here now;
hazarding a guess as to the reason for this he decided that it had probably
happened after Daemon's defeat when people had left behind the systems that
hadn't survived and moved on to pastures new. Quite a few had obviously decided
to settle here in Mainframe.

He wandered without purpose for
most of the morning, looking around as he strolled and reminiscing about the
times he had spent in this little system. He'd had some good times here, great
times, more than anything he regretted leaving but he'd had no choice in the
matter. Losing himself in memories of the past, he barely noticed as he turned
onto Baudway. Suddenly he found a lump of emotion in his throat as he came face
to face with an extremely familiar Diner and noted with a sad smile that it no
longer belonged to Dot, now the sign over the building read "Enzo's". She must
have been too busy with the running of the system to carry on at the Diner too.
Perhaps if he had been around to lend a helping hand…he shook off the thought
quickly and snuck a quick peek through the window. Apart from that one small
change the Diner had remained the same, Cecil was still there speeding up and
down the aisle and telling the customers to "Wait at the bar, wait at the bar".
There was no sign of Enzo; Bob guessed he was probably keeping Dot company. He
dove to one side quickly as the doors suddenly swung open and a take out order
sped off down the street to an unknown destination.

Forcing himself to leave the
source of so many memories Bob turned around and walked slowly away, grinning to
himself at the thought of Matrix in a chef's hat and apron, preparing energy
shakes. He knew full well that the Diner didn't belong to Matrix but little Enzo
but the mental image was too amusing to dismiss straight away. He was still
grinning at the thought when the Diner was far behind him, judging from the
crowds around him now he was in the busiest part of Mainframe. Sprites hurried
past him not noticing he was standing there. For some reason this made his good
mood disappear. At one time he would have been mobbed by adoring fans had he
walked down the street but now he felt like just another anonymous face in the
crowd. Despite the feeling he was still glad to be back, even if it was only for
a short visit.

After checking the time with
Glitch he found he still had a few minutes before he had to leave. There was
still so much to see and do before he could get to the point of his visit. After
spending a few nanos standing there doing absolutely nothing he decided to take
a stroll past his old apartment and go on to floating point park to relax before
he did what he had come to do.

After dodging the rushing sprites
in the street and narrowly avoiding a serious accident with a pushchair he made
his way to his old apartment, or more precisely to where his apartment used to
be. Now he noticed with a pang that the apartment had gone. It had been torn
down many hours ago and replaced with a simple, stone memorial in honour of the
sprites who had died in the battle against Daemon. Running a hand through his
blackened silver hair he grinned sorrowfully. Trust Dot to do something like
this. He knew he had hurt her badly by not coming back to Mainframe after the
war but she must have been really mad at him in order to do something this
drastic. He could just imagine the faces of the others when she told them what
she was thinking of doing. He had to admit though that it was a masterstroke of
planning, in one fell swoop she had honoured the memory of the brave sprites who
hadn't lived to see freedom and had got rid of the last piece of evidence of his
time in Mainframe, his home. It was Dot all over.

Suddenly he didn't feel like
refreshing his memories at the park. He approached the memorial sadly and ran
his hand slowly down the sleek surface of the plaque. His fingers picked out the
chiselled outlines of the names carved into its surface. There were countless
names there; too many he thought sadly, hundreds of lives had been lost in that
final battle, just how many of those names could he have saved? How many would
still be alive today if he had attacked sooner? Turning his back to the memorial
he slid down until he was sitting at its base and placed his head in his hands.
He knew exactly how many. None. The massacre of the final battle had been
thorough and he knew that no matter what he had done in those crucial, final
moments there was no way he could have saved the people whose names now graced
the cold memorial behind him. Even so it didn't stop him from wishing things
could have been different.

He had no idea how long he sat
there thinking, the minutes flew by and still the blue skinned sprite was
hunched at the base of the memorial. Somehow he felt as if he needed to pay his
respects to the many sprites who had deleted in the name of freedom and this was
the only way he knew how. Darkness approached swiftly and yet he remained, the
crowds were beginning to thin out now; there were fewer sprites out on the
streets at this time. Still no one noticed the lone sprite as he sat huddled by
the stone statue lost in his sorrow. He passed the time staring at the building
opposite and didn't seem to notice the growing darkness or the drop in
temperature, which accompanied it.

A sudden cold gust of wind
brought him back to his senses and he struggled to stand, wincing at the pins
and needles that started almost immediately. Turning one last time to look at
the plaque he ran his hand slowly over one of the engraved names and sighed in
regret. If only. Shaking off his depression he wiggled his toes a little in
order to get his circulation going and after a final glance at the memorial he
began a slow, agonising walk back the way he had come. It was amazing just how
much pain pins and needles could cause; if anyone saw him walking this way
they'd be thinking he'd had an embarrassing accident. He grinned broadly at the
thought and carried on walking hoping the tingling in his legs would soon
dissipate.

Unlike that morning when he was
wandering aimlessly, this walk had a purpose and destination. He strode quickly,
looking neither left nor right as he made his way through the dark streets of
the system. Finally he arrived at his goal. Glancing up at the large sign above
the door he hesitated for a while as he took a deep breath to compose himself.
Walking through the double door entrance to the Mainframe General hospital he
strode inside, it was time to see Dot.

******

Room 452, it was fate's cruel
joke Matrix thought as he stood at the window of his sister's hospital room. The
brightness of the morning outside contrasted sharply with the tangible sorrow
filling the small room. The only sounds to break the silence were coming from
the machine monitoring Dot's heartbeat and the loud snores coming from Frisket
as he slept under the bed. Dot hadn't mentioned the number on the door but
Matrix knew that it bothered her immensely. She hated to be reminded of Bob,
after all hadn't she demolished his old apartment block a few cycles after the
war. And now here she was in room 452 and there was nothing they could do about
it, as the hospital was critically full. Matrix sat down on the small, rather
uncomfortable chair, which the room boasted and prepared himself for another
day. He was lost in his thoughts when a slight growl from Frisket brought his
attention back to the present. Footsteps were approaching Dot's room; as they
reached the door they stopped and Matrix watched as the handle on the door began
to turn slowly. Unholstering Gun he stood up and waited for the owner of the
soft footsteps to enter the room. He didn't have to wait long.

"Jeez Matrix don't shoot, I come
in peace."

"Sorry AndrAIa." Hiding his
embarrassment Matrix quickly replaced Gun and managed a small grin at the aqua
haired sprite who had entered. The hours hadn't affected her much, her face had
a few laughter lines and her hair a few streaks of grey but even so Matrix
couldn't help but think that she was more beautiful now than she had ever been.

AndrAIa stared past Matrix at the
bed and its occupant before bringing her gaze back to him. "How's she doing?"

"The doctors think this is it,
they don't think she'll make it to the next cycle." He struggled to keep his
voice from shaking but AndrAIa knew him too well. Hurrying over she gave him a
quick, comforting hug which he returned gratefully, glad of the company.

"Mouse, Ray and Enzo are on their
way up now, they're just getting a cup of java from the machine downstairs."

Matrix nodded. The others had
developed quite a taste for the stuff during Dot's hospital stay. He kept away
from it personally, too much caffeine didn't mix well with his nerves, as the
many blast holes above the door proved. Moving to a corner of the room he
grabbed the stack of chairs there and began to set them out in readiness for the
others.

AndrAIa just stood and watched
him sadly; he was taking Dot's illness hard. Ever since she had been
hospitalised he hadn't been able to focus on the games well, it had caused them
a couple of narrow escapes before AndrAIa had banned him from going in and began
entering them alone. It was safer. Now he was filling his days sitting beside
Dot and keeping her company when she was awake, which had been getting less and
less these last few cycles.

A slight sound from the corridor
caught their attention and as the noise grew louder it was obvious that Mouse,
Ray and Enzo were approaching the room. Judging from the raised voices it seemed
as though Mouse and Ray were in the middle of a lovers' TIFF. Matrix grinned a
little, some things never changed. The argument stopped abruptly when the
sprites reached the door and caught sight of the look on Matrix's face. No words
were necessary; they all knew that the news was bad. Swiftly they entered the
room without even bothering to close the door. In silence the small group
collected around Dot's bed and sat down in the seats Matrix had set out for
them. Mouse was the first to find her voice.

"How long, Matrix?"

"Not long, a couple more minutes
perhaps but they think that she won't even last that long." Matrix's voice
cracked on the last few words and he looked down at the floor, unable to bear
the sadness in his friends' eyes.

"Oh User." Mouse stared back down
at the still body of her friend. Something inside her was refusing to believe
that Dot was dying. She looked fine, a few slight lines on her face and white
patches in her hair but most of them had those nowadays. She herself had long
said goodbye to her brilliant red hair, now it was more of a brilliant shade of
white. Stifling a grin she glanced over at Matrix, he hadn't fared well with
Father Time either. Nowadays he was what some people would call "Follically
Challenged". She preferred to call him "Bald". Mouse didn't like to mince words.
She said what she thought, who cared about the consequences.

The five friends sat there in
silence for a while, each one deep in their own thoughts and memories. Noticing
the drop in temperature in the room Matrix stood up quietly and stepped up to
the open window. He was surprised to see that darkness had fallen; it hadn't
felt like he'd been here all day. He stood at the window for a short while after
closing it, just staring out at the dark emptiness outside, something about it
mirrored the hollow feeling he sensed inside himself. A low growl from Frisket
was enough to alert him to a possible intruder.

"What is it boy?"

Frisket only whined a little and
sniffed the air puzzled. Matrix sighed and replaced his gun once again. "I wish
Bob was here."

The others started at the
unexpected comment and stared at Matrix, AndrAIa squeezed his hand reassuringly
"You know he can't come, Matrix."

"Yeah, I know. But it still
doesn't make it any easier. I mean, I miss him."

Mouse sighed before replying, "We
all do Hon but you know he can't be here."

They fell back into silence after
this, it was almost as if there was nothing more to be said. Once again the only
sounds in the room came from Dot's heart monitor and Frisket's snoring. No one
noticed the blue sprite standing in the doorway.

******

Bob wandered through the
corridors slowly; now that he'd arrived at the hospital he was feeling nervous.
After all it had been over forty hours since he and Dot had last seen each
other, how she was going to react when she saw him he didn't know. And if he was
completely honest he didn't care, it would be enough just to see her again.
Something inside him made him smile as he approached her room, trust her to get
room 452. Noticing the open door he peered into the room and for the first time
in forty hours laid eyes on six of his dearest friends. Dot was sleeping, this
he could see straight away. He didn't want to wake her just yet; she wasn't
ready to see him at the moment. For now he was content with taking in every
little detail of his friends, he'd missed them more than he'd thought possible.
A small growl from Frisket reminded him of just how much the dog loved to hate
him and he grinned at the dog's bewildered look at catching his scent. Still he
was happy to stay outside the room and there he remained for a while, listening
to the conversation going on inside and noting every little change in his
friends' appearances.

They hadn't really changed over
the hours; only small changes were evident. Things like grey hair, middle-aged
paunches, and baldness. Bob grinned at the last, poor old Matrix. Enzo was the
one who had changed the most, he'd really grown from the last time Bob had seen
him, back then he had been nothing but a young boy, barely 1.0. Now he was a
younger version of Matrix, the only differences being that Enzo had two eyes and
wasn't quite as muscular.

Turning his attention to Dot he
managed a small smile, the sprite in the bed was almost 6.5 now and had changed
a lot from the last time they had seen each other. Bob thought back to that day,
he had been about to board the ship with the others in order to search out
Daemon's stronghold. He had heard someone call his name and had turned only to
be flattened by Dot, obviously taking a leaf out of Enzo's book. After she had
helped him up and he had regained a little of his dignity and composure, which
he remembered had been difficult with many of his friends surrounding him and
laughing, she had hugged him tightly and he had sworn again the same pledge he
had made after the system restart a few cycles ago.

"Don't ever leave me again."

"I promise."

Bob sighed at the memory; it had
happened so long ago. Running a trembling hand through his hair he closed his
eyes to prevent the tears, which were threatening to fall. Why couldn't he have
kept that promise?

******

Mouse was beginning to feel
restless, it had been two minutes since anyone had spoken and the silence was
becoming unbearable. Plus if she had to listen to the incessant snoring from
Frisket for much longer she was going to go random. A sudden thought struck her
and summoning her courage she posed a question, which had been hanging in the
air silently for many hours now.

"Do you think things would have
been different if Bob had come back to Mainframe after the war?"

Matrix jumped a little, both from
the sound after the long period of silence and the nature of the question
itself. He shot a quick glance at Dot before he answered in a voice barely above
a whisper. "I think everything would have been different."

Enzo nodded emphatically, "For
starters Dot wouldn't be here in this hospital if she'd had Bob around to stop
her from working herself into a frenzy all the time. She missed him too much to
relax for long. She's worked herself to death." His voice was tinged with
bitterness.

A memory returned to Matrix and
he sniggered a little, "You should have seen the TIFF they had once. You think
you and Ray can argue, Mouse. Those two could have argued in the Olympics." His
voice took on a tender note, "Even so they were meant for each other."

AndrAIa agreed with Enzo and
Matrix. With a small sigh she voiced a thought of her own, which she had often
wondered about in the past. "Could you imagine what their kids would have been
like?"

Mouse laughed a little at this,
"I can just see it now, little sprites with Bob's energy and Dot's efficiency
combined. They'd probably have taken over the entire system by now. There'd be
nowhere left to hide."

Silence fell again as the sprites
conjured up their own mental images of Dot and Bob's children, children who
would never be born. Dot had never married; she had thrown herself into her work
with a vengeance after the war determined to forget about the sprite who had
broken both his promise and her heart in one single instant. The others had
tried to get her to relax a little, even attempting to set her up with blind
dates when sprites began settling in Mainframe. Nothing worked though and they
soon gave up, realising that even though she wanted to forget about Bob she
would never allow herself to let go.

A change in the regularity of the
beeps from Dot's monitor stopped the conversation in its tracks and the five
sprites held their breath as Dot's heart seemed almost to falter before settling
down into a noticeably slower rhythm. It would not be long now. The younger of
the two Enzos took hold of Dot's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to let her
know that she wasn't alone. Another thought hit him and he looked around at his
friends and family in the room, some part of him really wanted to ask the
question but another part didn't want to hear the answer. Finally his curiosity
overcame his fear and taking a deep breath he asked his query in a trembling
voice.

"What do you think happens after
you delete?"

At this Mouse stood up from her
seat and hurried over to give him a gentle hug. They all knew Dot would never
see the light of the next cycle but it was still hard to accept. Letting go of
Dot's hand Enzo buried his head in Mouse's shoulder and let his tears fall,
Mouse just held him tightly until his outburst had died down and he was calm
again. Stroking his hair back off his forehead she looked down into his eyes and
smiled.

"Deletion is only the next stage,
Sugah. We all have to go through it eventually. My mother used to tell me a
story about the afterlife of sprites. She used to say that no sprite could truly
be deleted. Somewhere beyond the systems they still exist, not governed by the
rules we live by. Dot will be ok, and we'll see her again when our own time
comes. Until then she'll live on in our hearts and memories."

This seemed to give Enzo a little
hope and he released his grip on Mouse, not needing the comfort of the hug any
more. He wiped his eyes in embarrassment, getting rid of the last traces of
tears. A small sound from the bed grabbed his attention and hurriedly he turned
to stare into Dot's violet irises. She raised her hand slowly towards him in
concern and smiled sadly at him when she saw how upset he was.

"Don't worry Enzo, I've been
looking forward to this day for a long time now."

The others had to strain to hear
the words she spoke as they were barely above a whisper. Looking around at the
faces of her friends Dot smiled, they had come to see her off on her journey.
Enzo had grabbed hold of her hand and was holding it tightly, as if he was
trying to hold her here with them. Matrix and AndrAIa were sitting close
together, fingers entwined tightly. Matrix seemed to be attempting an
encouraging smile despite the tears falling down his face. Mouse was refusing to
cry but Dot knew that she was already feeling the loss of her friend. Ray had
his arm over her shoulder in a vain attempt at comfort. Something about the
situation struck Dot as highly amusing and she managed a very weak laugh
surprising the others.

"You all look as though you've
seen a ghost." She grinned at them, "What have you been talking about this
time?"

Matrix cleared his throat a
little at Dot's weak attempt at lightening the mood. He decided to play along,
if only to make Dot happy. "Guess."

Dot had allowed her head to slip
sideways on the pillow, almost as though it was too much effort for her to keep
it straight. She took a deep, shuddering breath before answering, "Bob?"

Ray looked at her in
astonishment, "How in the net did you guess that?"

Dot didn't reply for a while, she
seemed to be off in a little world of her own a tired but happy smile on her
face. Finally though she spoke again, in the same small whisper as before.
"Thanks for coming."

Mouse blinked back the tears "You
know we wouldn't have missed it for anything Hon."

Dot smiled, "I know, I love you
too."

At this Mouse couldn't prevent
the tears any longer and buried her face in Ray's shoulder as he squeezed her
comfortingly. For a short time there was a period of silence during which Dot
continued to stare steadily at the doorway, the smile never leaving her face.
Matrix shifted in his seat uncomfortably, they really weren't made for someone
of his stature. The resulting noise seemed to wake Dot from her trance and she
brought her gaze back to her friends. She gave Enzo's hand a weak squeeze and
smiled at them sadly with an expression which seemed to say goodbye.

Raising her left hand from the
covers Dot reached out with her fingers towards the air. The beeps from the
monitor were steadily slowing down now, as she appeared to nod slightly and
grinned.

"I'm ready."

With that the beeps from the
monitor stopped entirely and Dot's body flickered once before fading out of
existence leaving nothing but her icon behind.

******

Bob stood outside the room for a
long time. Now that he had reached his destination the nervousness had returned.
What if Dot wasn't happy to see him? When he'd heard she was dying he had had to
come and see her but now doubts were beginning to plague him. How had she fared
after the war? Had she married? Did she have children? Would she even remember
who he was? After all, it *had* been a long time since they had last seen each
other. A thorough examination of the room from his position at the doorway had
been enough to satisfy him. There were no pictures of husbands or children on
the clinical looking side cupboard in the room. The only visitors were Dot's
brothers, Mouse, and Ray, Phong having passed away some hours ago now. Bob had
no doubts that Dot had remained single after he had left. Surely she would have
had her husband or children around her now otherwise.

A missed beat on the monitor
caught his attention and he waited as the beeps grew constant again, noting how
they had slowed down quite a bit. It would only be a few nanos now before Dot
deleted and yet something was still stopping him from entering the room.
Listening to the faint strains of the conversation Bob smiled to himself. Mouse
certainly had an interesting view on sprite afterlife. Bob had to wonder just
how much of it she believed and how much she was saying in order to comfort
Enzo.

Suddenly a new voice entered the
conversation and Bob froze in shock. He had waited to hear this voice again for
so long, it hadn't changed at all and he found himself wondering if her singing
was still as good as it used to be. As soon as Dot's voice entered the
conversation in the room he could feel the barriers preventing him from going in
dissolving. Unable to shake the feeling that he was in a dream Bob stepped
silently into the room unnoticed by his friends. Dot had begun to talk again and
had cracked a very weak joke. Despite the situation Bob couldn't stop from
smiling. Without a sound he approached the bed slowly.

Suddenly Dot turned her head on
the pillow catching sight of the movement from the corner of her eye. The
conversation around her seemed to fade into the background immediately as she
looked into the eyes of the sprite who held her heart. He hadn't changed at all
from the last time she had seen him. His hair had the same beautiful tones of
burnt silver and shone as it caught the reflections from the strip lighting
above. His skin was the same shade of blue she remembered so vividly. For a nano
she wondered why he hadn't aged like the rest of them, before mentally kicking
herself. He was only a figment of her imagination; after all she had seen him
everywhere in the first few hours after Daemon's defeat. Taking a deep breath
she spoke her first words to him in forty hours.

"Bob?"

Bob grinned, he had waited so
long to hear her voice again, and to hear her speak his name made him feel
complete again. He heard the questioning tone in her voice and hastened to
reassure her.

"Yep I'm back, did'ya miss me?"
His voice cracked and he took a moment to get his emotions under control.
Glancing at Dot he noticed the wry smile on her face and it seemed to help him.
Taking a deep breath he let out a soft laugh.

"Sorry, I can't help it, it's a
compulsion. It's been a long time."

There was no reply. Bob ran a
hand through his hair once more nervously, mussing it up even more than usual.
He had intended to pour his heart out to her and yet it seemed to be turning
into a casual conversation between friends. Looking once more into Dot's eyes he
realised she understood how he felt, she even felt the same herself. After
collecting his thoughts he tried once more.

"I thought I'd come and see you."

Dot's smile broadened at this and
the small lines around her eyes crinkled in response. She had let him suffer
enough. Now it was time to talk back.

"Thanks for coming."

Bob smiled back and he took a few
steps closer to the bed. Their eyes were locked in an intense gaze and he could
see the hurt and pain she had felt when he left her in her dark, emotional eyes.
All of his nervousness left him in that moment and suddenly he felt as if he
could finally say the words he had longed to say all these hours.

"I'm sorry I broke my promise."
As the words left his lips he felt free, freer then he'd been in a very long
time. "I love you Dot, I never stopped loving you, you know." His eyes looked
into hers asking a silent question.

Dot felt her heart swelling with
joy, Bob was back with her again, everything was going to be alright now. Taking
a deep breath she spoke again, wiping away any traces of doubt Bob was feeling.

She smiled, "I know, I love you
too."

They continued to look at each
other for a while, neither one seemed to want to break the eye contact. Suddenly
a loud creaking noise from Matrix's chair brought Bob back to his senses. He
grinned, "It's time to say goodbye Dot."

She smiled at him and tore her
gaze away from his hazel eyes with difficulty. Looking around at her friends
surrounding her bed she found it hard to form the words. Instead she simply
squeezed Enzo's hand tenderly and said goodbye through her smile. They seemed to
understand what she was saying. The world seemed to be fading away around her
now as she felt some last vestige of strength returning. Once more she focussed
her gaze on Bob and graced him with a smile.

Bob found himself saying a silent
farewell to his friends too, it was something he'd never had the chance to do
before and he was seizing the opportunity with both hands. The beeps on the
heart monitor were steadily slowing down now; it was time. He reached out his
hand towards Dot and gave her the look, which had always made her heart melt.

"Are you ready to go?"

Dot nodded weakly and reached out
her hand to his, rejoicing in the feeling of his fingers entwined with hers.
"I'm ready." There was a blinding flash and then everything went black.

******

The next thing she was aware of
was standing by her bedside looking down at the empty space she had occupied
only a few nanos before. Her friends were still there and seemed to be in shock,
staring down at the crumpled sheets still warm from her body. She watched as
Matrix reached out with a trembling hand and lifted her icon from the bed
tenderly.

Suddenly she became aware of the
feeling that someone was looking at her, turning she found herself staring into
the warm, gentle eyes of the guardian she had given her heart to so long ago.
Blushing a little at the intensity of his gaze she allowed her eyes to drop down
to her hand, noticing that her fingers were still tightly clutching his.
Noticing something else about the hand she reached up to her face and touched
her cheek softly, pulling back her fingers in shock when she realised her skin
was as youthful as Bob's appeared.

Noticing her shock Bob gave her
hand a reassuring squeeze and grinned at her tenderly. Wordlessly they turned
back to have one last look at their friends, still huddled around her bed in
mourning. She turned back to Bob, "Will they be alright?"

He nodded, "They'll be fine,
don't worry." Looking into her eyes he found he could wait no longer and pulled
her towards him, she moved willingly and they lost themselves in their first
kiss since Bob had left. With the beginning of the kiss Dot felt the pain and
loneliness she had suffered all these hours disappearing. Everything was right
again, nothing could ever come between them now. Pulling away after the kiss she
took a nano to catch her breath and grinned up at him.

"I missed you."

"I know".

Holding hands they turned and
walked away, away from their friends, away from the hospital. As they passed the
memorial once more a shaft of light from one of the street lamps seemed to
illuminate the outline of one of the names carved into the shiny surface of the
plaque, the name of a sprite who had lost his life saving his friends, the same
name Bob had touched regretfully a few minutes earlier, his name…Guardian 452.